First Week Plans

For the past three years, the beginning of every year has meant a new school, new students, new classes. Last year I had FOUR preps, one of which I didn't know about until a week before school started. So my first days of school have always been pretty mundane. Here's the syllabus, here's your book, here's the rules... blah blah blah. But this year I am at the same school, in the same room and feel like I can breathe under my three preps (two of which are new, but oh well!).

After reading the #mssunfun and hearing(reading) so many posts about not starting the year like a robot I'm inspired to not even mention my syllabus until our third (and first full 90 minute block) class. Now, school is still a week and a half away from starting, so my plans are not set yet, but here are some of the ideas that have most struck me.

• Google doc survey. There's your homework for the first day. And it's all saved there in my gdocs so I can get a hold of a student or parent even when I'm on vacation in Tahiti. (lol)
• By the numbers quiz. Love the idea of making the kids think I'm giving them a quiz the first day, and then having it actually be about me! Also giving them the opportunity to share about themselves. Nice posts on this here and here.
• Who Am I Chart - I know it's Dan Meyer's but I can't seem to find his actual post about it. Here's the chart the kids fill in.
• Algebra 2 Graphing Stories - which I will use for Algebra 2 and Calculus

And then in no particular order, here are some of the ideas I stole off the Middle School list, 

• 31 Game
• Nametag/Feedback card
• Vacation Human Bingo
• Sherlock Holmes
• Rice/Gold on a Chessboard 
• Puzzles for Geometry and Algebra 2
• Block Games
• Watermelon in the desert problem

Read through the rest of the middle school math teachers' first day posts HERE

Foldable Templates

Just ran across this great bunch of foldable templates.

My Favorite Friday - Oreo Truffles!

School is starting soon - for some of us it has started all ready, so I thought I'd include a recipe for some super easy SUPER yummy treats to lesson the back-to-school shock! I have to admit, I don't make these, my wonderful daughter does, but the recipe is so easy that even I could handle it. 

Oreo Truffles

All you need is:

1 package of Double Stuft Oreos
1 8oz package of cream cheese
White chocolate melters or chips

1. Crush the oreos. We use a food processor to get the crumbs really fine. Set aside about 1/4 c of crumbs.

2. Mix in the cream cheese. Use your hands! You can vary the amount of cream cheese you put in depending on how creamy you want them. We don't usually use the whole package.

3. Roll into one inch balls and place in freezer for about 15 minutes.

4. Melt white chocolate in double boiler or microwave and roll chilled truffles in to coat. Place on waxed paper. Sprinkle with reserved oreo crumbs. Don't wait until the oreos are all coated, once the chocolate cools the crumbs won't stick.

Eat them!

We've made all kinds of variations. Used mint and peanut butter oreos (seriously yummy) but these needed a little more cream cheese to make up for not being double stuft. We've also melted chocolate chips and drizzled the tops as in the picture. If you have a Win-co near you, they sell the white melters in their bulk bins. (I love Win-co's bulk bins!)

Enjoy, and happy back to school!

High School teachers - please join in and share your first week or day of school ideas! I'll compile them and post the results on Sunday. http://bit.ly/RxRCFh

#myfavfriday

Master Schedule... Finally!

This afternoon I finally got a look at the "final" master schedule. My lovely sections this year are 1st & 6th period Geometry, 4th and 5th period Algebra 2, and 2nd period AP Calculus AP. The Alg 2 and Calc I was sure about, but I was really hoping to have some miracle happen and get Pre-Calc instead of Geometry.

Not that I mind Geometry. I taught it the year before last and it was pretty fun. But I did have 4 preps last year. This year I have three, but two of them are new at this school. Oh well, shrug it off. I have Calc. That makes me happy.

I have so many ideas that I want to do this year that it is a bit overwhelming. I really want to try the interactive notebooks, but it feels like too much with two new preps, one being AP.

My students last year said "More projects!" so I am determined to have group work/activities at least once a week in each class. They moved out my all-in-one desks and replaced them with tables (Hooray!) so that should be a good start.

I am going to stick to my guns on the retake policy. Yes, you have to do all the work and reteaching before you can assess again. No, you can't "pop in" today and take a test, you needed to sign up ahead of time. And ABSOLUTELY none of this: I'm not ready to take this test today, I'll take it next week. (Who is in charge here!)

And I have got to keep my management under control. I act like I'm afraid to let a kid get in trouble. One warning, then they're out and I call home. If I've got 33 other kids working, I can't let that one distract them all.

Easy peasy, huh?

Shout Out to High School Math Teachers!

This is a shameless rip-off from Julie Reulbach's post here: http://bit.ly/Qbo9eK. She compiled an amazing list of first day/first week of school activities for middle school math teachers. Got some really cool ideas from these posts (I read every single one) and thought it would be great to construct a list for high school math teachers! So, here goes...

CALLING ALL HIGH SCHOOL MATH TEACHERS:

What does your first day/week of school look like?

Once you finish your blog post tweet me at @Carol_Leonard with the hashtag #hssunfun and I will publish a compilation of the blog posts on Sunday so we can all read them!

You don't need to wait until Sunday to post, and I will try to keep this updated so feel free to jump in anytime. It doesn't need to be a new post either, so feel free to submit a past post.

If you're not on twitter, just leave the link to your post in the comments section below, and I will add you in too!

Even easier, follow this link to submit your post.

Don't have a blog? No problem! Follow this link and scroll down for easy instructions to add your post. We want to hear as many voices as possible!

Let's see what amazing stuff you all are doing!

Trigonometry Unit Circle Fun - Made4Math!

I am always looking for ways to find artsy activities to use in math class, and this year I found this one that I used in the trigonometry unit of my pre-calculus class. I totally stole it from someone else, and tweaked it a bit, but the kids really enjoyed it, and it helped them see the reference angle relationships better. Plus, we did it right around Christmas, so my room was full of colorful trig ornaments! Our final products looked like this:

Here is the link for the instructions

Unit Circle Pie Plate instructions

Enjoy!

Okay, here goes...

Since apparently you are all "school supply junkies" I have to put in my plug for Staples. At the one near my home, right when you walk in the door there are these bins of goodies at amazing prices. Sharpies in 4 packs for a buck, same for highlighters, etc. This last time I went in they had these...

for 50 cents a pack! Limit of four (bummer) so I bought my four, went outside, gave my daughter $5 and sent her in for more. Did the same the next day. It has become the excitement of the week (almost) to hit Staples on Monday morning and see what goodies are there for cheap!

And then I'm going to hot glue these to the ends as erasers (which I got from somebody's blog a few weeks ago) and ta-da! Hopefully enough dry erase markers to keep my classes busy at least until December!

(Thanks for pressuring me into doing this, my new twitter buddies!)